The Florida Humanities Council, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, is partnering with the Smithsonian Institute on a Technological Initiative called “Connecting Florida.” Building on the museum network already created by “Museum on Main Street,” which has now reached upwards of 20 states, the Florida Humanities Council will develop a digital system which will connect and integrate small town museums across the state of Florida. This digital system will capture and disseminate state and local stories and provide dynamic, interactive humanities content.
Once community pillars and repositories of local history and memory, small town museums are quickly becoming obsolete in the face of an ever evolving technological landscape. In fact, consultants for local museums have commented that small museums “lack all of the new technology platforms” and as a result these museums will “most likely fall further behind the industry and become less relevant to the intended audience.” We are looking to solve this problem.
I would like to propose a short presentation of the project and solicit feedback. Do you know any comparable systems? Do you see any pitfalls, partnerships, or potential?
Thanks for proposing this great session which will help us to connect the needs and resources of museums, libraries, and DH practitioners! Please invite all local museum groups to come.